Module 2: The fundamentals

What research is not?

Some general notions about a career in research which may not always be true. Each of the following points is nuanced and can be true in certain circumstances. However, that should not discourage anyone from getting started in the first place. We foreshadow a number of threads which we discuss in detail in sections 2 and 3 of this course.

  • Is a huge commitment – Training yourself in research by doing some advanced degree will likely take you 3-10 years (research intern, masters, Ph.D., post-docs, etc.). This time is needed to develop an informed opinion about the field you specialize in. People do work in jobs for five-six years, where they get to work on a range of projects, learning a couple different skills along the way. Training yourself in research is no different. You always have the option to discontinue at any stage–you should be able to find jobs commensurate with your skills.

    Note - if you have responsibilities towards your families, or financial circumstances which you cannot avoid, then taking up an advanced degree maybe a sub-optimal life decision.

  • Is expensive – It’s not really. Most advanced degrees will in fact pay you a monthly salary, and waive your tuition off. So you essentially are an employee being paid to produce knowledge.

  • Leads to high paying jobs – Advanced degrees and research-jobs need not necessarily pay you significantly more than good undergrad jobs. If you’re into research solely for a high-paying job, then we ask you to re-assess why research should lead you to higher salaried jobs.

  • Makes you an authority in your chosen field – It’s unlikely you will come out of it being this invincible master of this one subject which you specalize in.
    Sure, you’ll know a lot about a small field.
    However, the shelf-life for tangible technical skills you’ve acquired–such as expertise in specific programming libraries or some specific set of tools, knowing what the state-of-the-art in your domain is, etc. will likely be 5-7 years.
    Be prepared to constantly skill up once you get out of your advanced degrees if you want your skills to remain relevant.
    What this experience will teach you is perhaps to think, ask questions, break problems down, communicate ideas, etc. - skills that’re transferrable to any domain you will work in.
    Technical skills will remain relevant as long as you put in the effort to stay relevant.

  • Is irrelevant to reality – While many successful entrepreneurs who contribute to a country’s economy by generating wealth feel this way [tweet], this need not be true.
    Academia does give you a chance to work on abstract ideas which may not have immediate applications, and which perhaps just furthers our knowledge of our universe. However, you could choose how you define high impact and achieve it as well.

    In the worst case, you will use this as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. In the best, you push forward the state of science for all of us, while also possibly creating something of high impact.

    See also how CS researchers like Aaditeshwar Seth or Sumit Gulwani have grounded their expertise in a fairly narrow area of CS to the very real needs of people.

  • Requires a Ph.D. – Not all research roles/jobs need you to have advanced degrees.
    However, not many such roles exist for undergraduates.
    We need aspiring researchers like you to recognize this gap and be tomorrow’s job creators who can change this norm.
    That said, what matters is a good mentor, be it in academia or outside of it, who can show you the ropes when you’re starting off.

  • I end up being a professor at some university – While academia is the natural destination for anyone interested in research as a career, a number of other jobs and careers rely on the skills you learn when solving problems in an academic setting.
    We will see more of this in Module 5: Opportunities.
    Further, innovation also happens in indutry, which have very strong in-house research programs (e.g. semiconductors, materials, pharma, airlines, auto manufacturing, computer-science based industries).

Academia vs. Industry

TBF

Research and Society

If the vaccine design for COVID-19 in record-time did not convince you about the value of research to society, here are some more examples from the Indian context:

The Simputer project

Four professors from the Indian Institute of Science built and marketed a hand-held computer called the Simputer before smartphones and iPads became popular.

This was one of India’s first deep-tech startups to be spun out of an academic lab, with an exclusive focus on impacting society at large. This also led to the announcement of the Bangalore Declaration on IT in 1998.

Read Prof. Vijay Chandru’s notes on this project: The Simputer: Technology with Heart, presented on the 75th birthday celebrations of Prof. Amulya Reddy (1930-2006).

Gagandeep Kang

Gagandeep Kang [wiki], winner of the 2016 Infosys Prize for her pioneering contributions to understanding the natural history of rotavirus and other infectious diseases, on her journey as a doctor and a researcher:

Upendranath Brahmachari

A note on Upendranath Brahmachari [wiki] who provided a cure for Kala Azar (Black fever): The forgotten saint of Calcutta (PDF)

This innovation came about because of his deep committment to research.

Additional Reading

Reading and traveling generally helps gain perspective on how the world works. It also provides perspective on how the science we do enables the society around us, which will hopefully motivate us to pick the right problems to go after.

Some India-centric reading